Wednesday, February 19, 2014

So lately, I have been thinking a lot about what it takes and how we become successful, successful in generally everything. I have wrestled with the idea pretty regularly lately and have come to realize that success comes in the drive & effortin what you put forth constantly in, into making whatever you are trying to achieve, successful. Whether it be in raising a family or having a successful career, they all require drivein a positive direction and the effortin acting upon the goals you made to get you there. Although we sometimes may be scared of failure, Failure is what helps give us that new vision we need to keep moving forward. I like to think of it as a bunch of small failures that ultimately lead us to our success. Far too many of us, I feel, are quick to see the success of others and feeling like we can't achieve the same kind of success. Yes it is hard, but we have to take into account the long enduring road that they took to achieve their success.We all need to take it one step at a time. So I'll give a quick example to better clarify: it is hard for me to imagine our everyday life without electric light. We all know that now a dark room can now be instantly filled with light by the quick flip of a switch. Can you imagine what it was like not so long ago when light wasn't as accessible as it is today? When, before our time, people needed to wait for the sun to come up in order to see? It is those simple everyday tasks that needed to wait until dawn or had to be done by the dull flicker of a candlelight can now be done so easily with the help of an invention that was anything but easy to perfect. Can you see where I am going with this?

"Thomas Edison worked several years and tried more than 1,000 different materials before he found a suitable filament (the thin wire at the heart of a light bulb) that could provide long lasting, affordable light. Ever the optimist, Edison viewed each material that didn't work as a mere stepping-stone toward finding one that would. Once he did, the world was never the same." -David Dickson

Like Thomas Edison, I'm sure you all have heard of other inspiring success stories where they all had to learn from their mistakes and keep trying. Try, try, try, then succeed. Even with the countless number of inspiring stories showing us that if we continue to push for our success we will achieve it, many of us still believe we are an exception to achieving what we deserve. Many times we feel we can't measure up to that kind of success, even after continuous attempts of trying and giving it our all. Some may even quit trying. After all, why keep trying to achieve what we want and deserve if we already know we are only going to fail again? At least that's what the Adversary would have you think. Not only is that line of thought spiritually, mentally, and emotionally draining, it is also entirely false.You can believe in yourself, no matter how hard life is. Nephi, the son of Lehi, in the Book of Mormon teaches us that "having a perfect brightness of hope" will lead us to success. "Wherefore, if ye shall press forward, feasting upon the word of Christ, an endure to the end, behold, thus saith the Father: Ye shall have eternal life."-2 Nephi 31:20. Yes we have hard times, but even in those days of discouragement, we continue to push forward in the direction that will lead us unto success.

The Apostle Paul taught, "Now the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that ye may abound in hope, through the power of the Holy Ghost." You can believe in yourself, no matter how hard life is, you can become successful. Elder Jeffrey R Holland of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles gives us clear instruction against giving up on ourselves. "However many chances you think you have missed, however many mistakes you feel you have made or talents you think you don't have, or however far from home and family and God you feel you have traveled, I testify that you have not traveled beyond the reach of divine love. It is not possible for you to sink lower than the infinite light of Christ's Atonement Shines." Elder Holland continues on to teach us that we should always keep an eye toward the goodness of God with helping us achieve our successes: "The formula of faith is to hold on, work on, see it through, and let the distress of earlier hours -real or imagined- fall away in the abundance of the final reward." Elder Jeffrey R. Holland, "The Laborers in the Vineyard," Ensign, May 2012, We can all lean unto the Savior with a perfect brightness of hope in becoming whoever we want to become. Never give up.

Friday, February 14, 2014

Hello to the Start of something new!

As I go about here becoming a new blogger, I'd ask for a little patience. At one point or another, I'm sure we all have had to go through new experiences that have either tried our patience to the point where we tend to want to throw in the towel. My advice? Just don't do it, you can endure anything and everything. The greatest thing about it is that you learn from it. My purpose with this blog is to have a place for me to share spiritual experiences with you all and hopefully help inspire you to realize that there is a purpose, a very specific purpose for each and every one of us.